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Carrom Rules

Most casual players would find the following simplified carrom rules quite useful to get started with the game.
However, the formal professional Laws of Carrom adopted by the International Carrom Federation are also available
if required..

Generally speaking, two or four people can play carrom. If two, the players sit opposite each other, while with four,
the opposite two are partners. As an exception, though, you can play with three players against each other for
points.

Arrange the carrom men on the centre circle of the carrom board as shown in the following illustration, with the red
‘queen’ at the centre. The whites should be lined up to form a “Y” shape, with two sides aiming directly towards the
corner pockets.

Each player sits on his side of the board and can only strike from that side. The contestant playing white ‘breaks’ or
plays first, which can be decided by the toss of a coin. The object of the game of carrom is to sink all of your
carrommen, using the heavier ‘striker’, in any of the pockets before your opponent. Your turn continues as long as
you keep sinking your carrom men – luck shots count and all combinations are permitted.

When placing the striker on the board to shoot, it must touch both ‘base lines’, either covering the end circle
completely, or not touching it at all. The striker may not touch the diagonal arrow line.

Incorrect Striker Placement

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 Index Finger Middle Finger

Shooting styles are very personal – whichever ‘grip’ works for you is fine as long as you ‘flick’ the striker and don’t
push it. Generally, it’s best to orient your body in order to see the line of your aim while shooting comfortably; you
may not move or leave your chair.

Thumb Shot Scissors Shot

For forward shots, you can use your index finger, middle finger, or even the ‘scissors’ shot. Before shooting, try
touching the striker with your fingernail, to be sure that its really on line. This will improve your accuracy and
prevent you from hurting your finger.

For ‘back-shots’ you may only use your thumb or the scissors technique.

No part of your body, except your hand, may cross the imaginary diagonal line nor may your elbow protrude over
the frame in front of you. Even your feet or knees my not leave your quadrant.

Incorrect Arm Position

The red ‘queen,’ can be pocketed at any time after sinking your first piece but must be sunk before your last one.
After pocketing the queen, you must sink one of your carrommen, thereby ‘covering’ it, into any pocket in the next
shot, or she is returned to the center spot.

Once the queen is covered, whoever clears all their carrom men first wins the ‘board’.

The winner of a board collects one point for each of the opponent’s carrom men left at the finish and three points
for the queen if covered by the winner (if covered by the loser, no-one gets those points). No more points are
collected for the queen after your score reaches 22.

A game consists of 25 points or eight boards, whichever comes first.

 Sinking the striker costs you one piece and your turn. But, if you sink a piece in the same shot, then
two come up and you shoot again.
 After sinking the striker, your opponent places the due piece(s) within the center circle. If you
haven’t sunk one yet, you owe one.
 If while shooting for the queen you also sink one of your carrom men in the same shot, the queen is
automatically covered, no matter which went first.
 If a piece jumps off the board, it is placed on the center spot. If pieces land on end or are
overlapping, they are left that way.

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 If the center spot is partially covered when replacing the queen or a jumped piece, the piece should
cover as much red as possible. If totally covered, the piece is placed opposite the next player
behind the red spot.
 If you sink your opponent’s piece, you lose your turn. If you sink their last piece, you lose the board
and three points.
 If you sink your last piece before the queen, you lose the board, three points and one point for each
of your opponent’s pieces left.
 If the striker does not leave both lines, go again. You get three tries to break before losing your
turn.

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Carrom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Equipment

The game is usually played on a board made of plywood. The dimensions of the standardized game is a 29 inches (74
cm) square playing surface on a board of lacquered plywood. The edges of the playing surface are bounded by
bumpers of wood, and the underside of each pocket is covered by a net which is 10 cm2 or larger.

Carrom men

Carrom men and one striker, arranged at the start of a game

Carrom is played using small disks of wood or plastic known as carrom men (sometimes abbreviated CM, c.m. c/m,
etc.). These pieces, aside from the special queen, may also be known as seeds, coins, pawns (as in chess), or pucks.
Carrom men are designed to slide when struck and are made with a smooth surface that slides easily when laid flat
on the board. They are struck by a Striker of a standard specification which is larger and heavier. Carrom follows
similar "strike and pocket" games, like pool, with its use of rebounds, angles, and obstruction of opponent's carrom
pieces.

A carrom set contains 19 pieces (striker not included) in three distinct colours; one for each player, and another for
the queen. The usual colours are white (or unstained) and black for the players and red for the queen.

ICF-approved pieces must have a diameter of no more than 3.18 cm and no less than 3.02 cm. The pieces must be
between 7 and 9 mm thick. The pieces have a plain, rounded edge. The mass of the pieces must be between 5.0 and
5.5g.

Strikers

Striker pieces are used to push the carrom men and the queen across the board to the pockets. The carrom striker
normally weighs 15 grams.

If the disc goes to the pocket or any kind of foul the opponent can take one coin of foul maker and place anywhere
on the board within the middle circle ( while keeping the coin player should first keep the coin on the board after
that player can move the coin anywhere in-between the circle without lifting the hand )

The queen

The red disk is called the queen; it is the most valuable piece. During board setup, it is placed at the centre of the
circle. In accordance with the ICF rules, pocketing the queen adds 3 points to the player's total score. The dimensions
of the queen must be the same as those of other carrom men.

 The player must pocket the queen and subsequently pocket a carrom man of the player's own colour. This is
termed covering the queen. If by mistake, a player puts a carrom man of the opposite team in the pocket after
"pocketing" the queen, then the queen has to be placed in the centre of the board again.
 If the player fails to pocket a subsequent carrom man, the queen is replaced at the centre of the board.
 If the player pockets his or her opponent's last carrom man before pocketing the queen, then it's a foul.

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 If a player puts the queen and a carrom man of the player's own colour in the pocket with one use of the
striker, the queen is automatically covered, no matter which went first.

Powder

Fine-grained powder is used on the board to enable the pieces to slide easily. Boric acid powder is the most
commonly used for this purpose.The EU has classified Boric acid as a "Serious Health Hazard" and states that
"this substance may damage fertility or the unborn child".

In the UK, many players use a version of anti-set-off spray powder from the printing industry[citation needed]
which has specific electrostatic properties with particles of 50 micrometres in diameter. The powder is made from
pure, food-grade vegetable starch.

Standardised rules and regulations

The ICF promulgates International Rules of Carrom (also termed "The Laws of Carrom"). ICF acts as the
governing body of carrom. The organization also ranks players, sanctions tournaments and presents awards. ICF
has many national affiliates such as the All-India Carrom Federation, Australian Carrom Federation, and United
States Carrom Association.

The toss

Order of play is determined by the process of "calling the carrom men" or "the toss". Before commencing each
match, an umpire hides one black carrom in one hand and one white carrom man on the other hand. The players

guess which color carrom man is being held in each hand. The player who guesses correctly wins the toss.

The winner of the toss strikes first, which is called the opening break. The winner of the toss has the option to
change sides from white to black and give up the opening break. The winner of the toss may not pass this
decision to the other player. If the winner of the toss chooses to change sides then the loser must strike first.

The player taking the first shot (or break) plays white carrom men. The opponent plays black. If that player
cannot score any points then that player loses the turn and their opponent can choose to play any carrom man,
Black or White in favor.

Shooting

A successful pot entitles the player to shoot again. This means that, as in pool and snooker, it is possible for a
player to pot all his/her pieces and cover the queen from the start of the game without the opponent being given

the chance to shoot.

Any player pocketing the queen is required to cover it immediately by pocketing one of their carrom men on the
entitlement shot. If after potting the queen the player fails to cover it, then the queen is returned to the center of

the table. It is illegal to pot the Queen after the last piece since the queen must always be covered.

Thumbing is allowed by International Carrom Federation which allows the player to shoot with any finger
including the thumb (known as "thumbing", "thumbshot", or "thumb hit").

Crossing the diagonal lines on the board by coming in touch with it, pocketing the striker is a foul. A player needs
to ensure that his striking hand does not infringe/cross the diagonal lines aerially/physically. A player committing
a foul must return one carrom man that was already pocketed. If a player pockets his striker, he has to pay a
penalty. This penalty is usually 10 points.

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Variants

Professional

 Each team or player is assigned a color and can only pocket that color of carrom men.
 Pocketing the queen must be followed by pocketing another coin on the same strike.
 The queen can only be pocketed if the player has already pocketed a carrom man but has not yet
pocketed the last carrom man of the player's color as a carrom man must be pocketed to cover it.
 Once the queen is covered, whoever clears all their carrom men first wins the board.
 Queen and cover can be pocketed in the same turn, irrespective of the order they enter the pocket.
 The winner of a board collects one point for each of the opponent's carrom men left at the finish
and three points for the queen if covered by the winner (if covered by the loser, no-one gets those
points). No more points are collected for the queen after your score reaches 21.
 A game consists of 25 points.
 When placing the striker on the board to shoot, it must touch both baselines, either covering the
end circle completely or not touching it at all. The striker may not touch the diagonal arrow line.
 Shooting styles can vary between players, but all shots must involve flicking the striker and not
pushing it. While players may orient their bodies for aiming, they must remain seated for the shot.
 Carrom men can be struck directly only if they are not touching the player's baseline or situated
behind the baseline. According to the new rule, if the carrom man is behind the baseline, the player
can directly hit the carrom man by the carrom striker unlike before we have to strike the carrom
men off any side of the carrom board or any other carrom piece on the board but not directly.
 Sinking the striker incurs a penalty of one piece and a loss of turn. If a piece is pocketed in the same
shot as the striker that piece is also removed. These pieces are returned to the board in the center
circle. If the striker is sunk before any of a player's carrom men, that player must later return a
carrom man after sinking to make up for the deficit.
 If while the queen and a carrom man are sunk on the same shot, the queen is considered covered
regardless of the order that the pieces entered the pocket.
 If a piece jumps off the board, it is placed on the center spot. If pieces land on end or are
overlapping, they are left that way.
 If the center spot is partially covered when replacing the queen or a jumped piece, the piece should
cover as much red as possible. If totally covered, the piece is placed opposite the next player
behind the red spot.
 One can touch any coin, the player can touch their last piece directly before the queen, No penalty
is imposed.
 If a player sinks an opponent's piece, that player loses a turn. If a player sinks an opponent's last
carrom man, they lose the board and three points.
 If a player sinks their last piece before the queen, they lose the board, three points and one point
for each of their opponent's pieces left.[19]
 If the striker does not leave both lines, the player has another chance. After three tries without
leaving the lines the player loses their turn.[19]
 These rules are mostly played in the UK, Sri Lanka, and India.

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Point

Point carrom is a variant that is popular with children or an odd number of players. Each player is allowed
to pocket carrom men of any colour.

 Carrom men of either colour are assigned 1 point each.

 The queen gives 50 points.
 The black gives 10 points.
 The white gives 20 points.
 To get queen points, one needs to put a carrom man of any colour in the same pocket after the
queen on the same or a subsequent strike in the same turn. If the player fails to "cover" the queen
in this fashion, the queen is put back in the center of the board.
 The first player to reach 25 points is declared the winner.
 If no player reaches 25 points, the player with the highest points is declared the winner. If the
scores are tied, a tie-breaker must be played. Players who are tied select a color and are only
allowed to pocket carrom men of the other color on the rebound.

Family-point

Family-point carrom (also known as simple-point carrom) is an informal variant suitable for an odd number
of players. Each player is allowed to pocket carrom men of any color.

 Typically, a black carrom man scores 10 points, and a white scores 20 points
 The queen scores 50 points.
 As in point carrom, the queen must be "covered" pocketing another carrom man in the same
pocket on the same or subsequent strike in one's turn.
 With the points system, if one team/player gets queen points early in the game, the opponent still
has a good chance to win by earning more points.
 This style of play is widely accepted in many areas of South-East Asia.

Total-point

 The black carrom men are worth 10 points and the white ones are worth 20 points.
 The queen is assigned 50 points. As in the above two variants, it must have a carrom man pocketed
after it.
 To win, a player must receive all the carrom men on the board. [clarification needed]
 After the first round, the player or team with the lowest score puts all their carrom men in the
center.
 The others must match this score in the center and the players play for the carrom men in the
center.
 They repeat this until one team or player has all the carrom men.
 This style of play is widely accepted in many areas of Bangladesh,India and Pakistan.

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The Rules of Carrom or Karom

Equipment

The following dimensions vary considerably and are given only as an example of a tournament board. A Carrom
board is a square smooth flat wooden board that can be 72cm or 74cm square and which should be positioned 60 -
70cm above the ground. In each corner is a circular hole that can be 51mm in diameter and underneath each hole is
a net to catch the pieces in a similar way to a snooker table. Two lines are drawn on the table along the diagonals.
These are the "foul lines". In the centre are two concentric circles - the centre circle is the size of a piece, the main
circle having a diameter about six times larger. Outside the circles and a short way in from each side of the board are
two straight lines parallel with the edge of the board. They should be about 3.8cm apart and the long thin area
between them is terminated just before the diagonal foul lines at either end by a red circle of 3.8cm diameter. This
thin rectangle with circles at either end is called the "baseline" and the baseline nearest to a player is the area that
the player's striker must be played from.

There are nine dark or black pieces and nine light or white pieces plus a red piece called the "Queen". The smooth
wooden pieces are slightly smaller than the the striker which is between 3.8cm and 4.4cm in diameter. People often
own their own strikers which can also be made of bone or ivory and which are normally somewhat heavier than the
pieces although can vary in weight from half as heavy to four times as heavy as a piece. On some boards, potato
starch, chalk dust or other lubricant is used to make the pieces slide more easily over the surface of the board - the
most popular lubricant is boric acid.

Preparation

To decide who goes first, one player should hold a piece concealed in one hand. If the opponent guesses correctly
which hand, the opponent chooses who goes first, otherwise the player concealing the piece chooses. The person
who plays first aims to pocket the white pieces.

The game is played by two opponents sitting opposite each other. To begin, the Queen is placed in the centre of the
board. Six pieces are put around the Queen directly in a circle, each touching the Queen and their neighbours. The
remaining twelve pieces are positioned around the inner circle of six pieces, so that each outer piece touches the
inner circle. Both circles should have the pieces alternating in colour. The two circles are oriented so that the Queen,
a white piece from the inner circle and a white piece from the outer circle lie in a straight line pointing towards the
centre of the side of the board where the player who will play first is sitting.

Objective

Players take turns to play. A turn consists of one or more strikes. A player wins by pocketing all of the pieces of their
chosen colour first. However, neither player can win until one or other player has "covered the Queen". To cover the
Queen, a player must pocket one of her own pieces immediately after pocketing the Queen. If the Queen is pocketed
but not covered, the Queen is returned to the board. Both players normally try to cover the Queen in addition to
trying to win the game because a player who wins and also covers the Queen receives bonus points.

Striking

For each strike, the player must position the striker within the baseline OR on one of the two circles at either end
of the baseline.
A striker within the baseline must touch both the front line and the rear line.
The striker may not "cut the moon" - be placed partially within the baseline and partially within the circle.
The player must flick the striker with one finger so that it crosses the front baseline - it is not permitted to flick
backwards or horizontally.
A piece that is on or behind the front baseline must not be struck by the striker until the striker has crossed the

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front baseline.
In striking, the player's hand or arm must not cross the diagonal foul lines at either end of the baseline.

Basic rules

For the very first turn, the player is allowed three attempts to "break" i.e. disturb the central group of counters.
It doesn't matter which piece the striker hits first and it doesn't matter if the striker hits no pieces.
If a the striker pockets the Queen and/or one or more pieces of her own colour, the player retrieves the striker
and takes another strike.
If the player pockets no pieces or commits a foul, the turn finishes.

Covering the Queen

A player may only pocket and cover the Queen if that player has already pocketed at least one piece of that
player's colour.
Should a player pocket the Queen before being permitted to cover it, the turn continues but the Queen is returned
to the centre at the end of the turn.
If a player pockets the Queen and one of her own pieces in the same turn, this counts and that player has covered
the Queen. Such a player must have already pocketed at least one piece in order to cover the Queen as per normal.
When a player pockets the Queen but does not cover it, the Queen is returned as near as possible to the centre
circle by the opponent.

Other Rules

Pieces returned to the centre can be placed on top of other pieces within the main circle.
If pieces come to rest standing on their edge or overlapping another piece, they are left as they are until moved
again in the normal course of play.
If the striker comes to rest under another piece, the striker should be removed with as little disturbance to the
covering piece as possible.

Fouls

When a player commits a foul, the turn comes to an end immediately and a penalty is incurred. The penalty is that
one pocketed piece is returned to the board by the opponent anywhere within the main circle. Any other pieces
requiring to be returned to the board are also placed within the main circle by the opponent. It is normal for pieces
to be positioned in order to confer an advantage for the opponent.

A foul is recorded in the following situations:

The striker is pocketed.

The striker or any other piece leaves the board.
A player pockets an opponent's piece. If the Queen was also pocketed, it is returned to the centre by the opponent
together with the penalty piece. Any other pieces pocketed in the same strike remain pocketed.
A player pockets the final opponent's piece. Regardless of whether the Queen has been covered, the opponent's
piece is returned to the centre in addition to the penalty piece.
A player pockets the final piece before the Queen has been covered. In this case both the pocketed piece and a
penalty piece are returned to the centre.
A player contravenes the rules for striking.
A player touches any piece in play, other than the striker.
The first player to strike fails to break the counters in three attempts.

Where a penalty is incurred but no pocketed pieces exist to return, the penalty is "owed" until a piece becomes
available. If a penalty is owed, when a piece becomes available due to being pocketed, the piece is returned to the

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centre by the opponent at the end of the turn. Should the opponent forget to do this before the start of the next
turn, any owed penalties are lost.

Scoring

At the end of the game the winner scores 1 point for each opponent's piece left on the board. If the winner also
covered the Queen, a bonus 5 points are scored. The maximum score for one game is therefore 14 points.

A match is usually played to 29 points and for matchplay, if the winner's score has reached has 24 or more points,
then 5 bonus points are NOT added for covering the Queen.

Doubles

Carrom is played by four people just as often as by two. For the doubles game, partners sit opposite one another and
turns proceed in a clockwise order. Other than that, play is exactly the same as for the singles game. The game has a
different character, though, because pieces behind the baseline can be safely left for the partner to deal with unlike
in the singles game where pieces behind the baseline can only be moved by the opponent or by rebounding of the
board edges.

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